Amid the concerns over issues like the politicization of school curriculums and parental rights, several prospective GOP candidates for president are seen focusing heavily on education.

Calling for cutting the federal funds to any educational program that involves “gender ideology, critical race theory or other inappropriate sexual, racial, or political content onto our children,” said former President Donald Trump unveiled his education platform underscoring how critical an issue it is for the Republicans.

This move of former President Trump comes after the headlines made in recent weeks in a series of education-related actions, by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin(R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), both seen as main political challengers.

Youngkin initiated an investigation into multiple northern Virginia schools for not providing students the news that they had qualified for National Merit Scholarships in a timely fashion, while DeSantis triggered controversy recently by rejecting the Advance Placement African American studies course a few weeks ago.

After a disappointing midterm election, the actions of the potential GOP candidates reflected their hunt for winning aspects. After making school issues a winning foundation in Virginia’s gubernatorial race in 2021, it is suggested that the Republicans will take a page out of Youngkin’s playbook.

Republican strategist Alex Stroman said, “You can look at the way Glenn Youngkin became governor of Virginia. I would say it was largely because of out-of-control school districts and kind of the climate that was born out of what was happening with COVID and some of the responses and parents starting to pay attention to education because they were forced to.”

In his gubernatorial campaign, Youngkin had strategically developed separate nine education  models for targeting nine types of educational voters.